In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country.

And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, I dont care what you call it.

On Tuesday, this Palin protégé was routed in a huge upset, despite a big early lead in the polls, a 6-to-1 fundraising edge and that Friday fly-in by the former half-term governor, who has Idaho roots.

(snip)

In California, Palin has endorsed Carly Fiorina for Senate. Who cares? Well, Palin should. In the 2008 presidential campaign, Palin pledged to stop multi-million dollar payouts and golden parachutes to C.E.O.s who run their companies into the ground.

After having steered Hewlett-Packard into a ditch, with the stock plunging 50 percent and 20,000 real Americans forced into layoffs, Fiorina walked away with about $45 million.

Between surreal appearances from Wasilla as the caged pundit of Fox News and quick, splashy landings in the lower 48 states, Palin has shown she still has the attention span of a hummingbird on a nectar jag. She does not do basic homework. Never has. The result is a string of endorsements for people whose lives are living contradictions of their stated philosophies.

I doubt she'll run for President but she is now a multi-millionaire which isn't a bad goal.

No matter what Palin's reasons for resigning it will resonate with the electorate as did that little Texan who was in and out then in the race for President ,and gave us Bill Clinton.(Hanging my head to admit I voted for the splitter.)

When people ask how many countries there are in the world,they expect a simple answer. After all, we’ve explored the whole planet, we have international travel, satellite navigation and plenty of global organizations like the United Nations, so we should really know how many countries there are!

However, the answer to the question varies according to whom you ask. Most people say there are 192 countries, but others point out that there could be more like 260 of them.

So why isn’t there a straight forward answer?

The problem arises because there isn’t a universally agreed definition of ‘country’ and because, for political reasons, some countries find it convenient to recognize or not recognize other countries.

For example, Taiwan claims to be a country, but China states that Taiwan is just another part of China. The consequence is that the USA, that doesn’t want to upset China, doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a country. Conversely, from the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union annexed the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but the USA continued to regard them as independent countries that were ‘occupied’ because it didn’t really get on with the USSR.

So, how do governments define what makes a country?

There are three terms you come across when you try to discover how countries are defined.
These are ...

The Montevideo Convention

Constitutive theory of statehood

Declarative theory of statehood

1. The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26 1933.

The convention set out the definition, rights and duties of statehood. Most well-known is Article 1, which set out four criteria for statehood, as quoted below.

The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

(a) a permanent population;

(b) a defined territory;

(c) government; and

(d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.

Article 3 of the Convention also declares that statehood is independent of recognition by other states, so a country can exist even if other countries don’t recognize it.

2. The Declarative theory of statehood is based on the 4 criteria specified in the Montevideo Convention.

3. The constitutive theory of statehood defines a state or country as a person of international law if, and only if, it is recognized as sovereign by other states. This means that so long as enough other countries recognize you as a country, you ARE a country, even if you don’t have control over your territory or a permanent population.

So, you can see that the two definitions allow for different numbers of countries to exist.

Today a common way to define a country is to avoid these two definitions and say that if it’s a member of the United Nations, it’s a country. However, the Holy See, or Vatican, isn’t a member of the United Nations, but it certainly is a country. The United Kingdom is a member of the United Nations, but the countries of England, Scotland and Ireland aren’t, so by the UN rule, they aren’t countries.

That of course goes against what the UK government states on the Prime Minister’s web site, where it declares that “ The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. “

So, if you really want to know how many countries there are, first select the definition you want to use, then allow for where you are and what political views you have, then you have a chance of making an educated guess at the answer!

Alternatively, you could view our list of the generally accepted countries of the world.

"I doubt it. Only drooling morons give the New York Slimes any credibility."

Nothing is going to deter true Sarah Palin devotees. And the NYT may only have perhaps 20% if the respect it once had, but it can still pack a wallop when a politician is vulnerable on an issue. And some of Sarah's political election endorsements are a vulnerable issue for her, even among those who love her.

"This is but a small taste of what will come if Fiorino wins the primary."

Yes, Sarah's Fiorina endorsement over Chuck Devore, was on one of the most insane moves that she could have made -- if she'd have made it on her own. But once you understand the Fiorina/McCain connection, it becomes obvious who really pulled the strings for Carly there.

But once you understand the Fiorina/McCain connection, it becomes obvious who really pulled the strings for Carly there.

The McCain connection is the consistent, guiding thread throughout, IMHO.

Hey! I've been thinking...wouldn't it be great if there were people somewhere who investigated stuff and then reported on what they found out for everyone who didn't have time to investigate and report on stuff. We could call them...reporters!

McCain wanted her to endorse Rand Paul? Nikki Haley? The guy from NY 23? Y'all are in need of some serious help.

No, I'm not. Stick with me here...Where is Nikki Haley? South Carolina? Does she have any connection with Lindsey Grahamnesty? Perhaps the "guy from NY-23" was the last endorsement she made on her own...although...she ponied up $5000 to him via SarahPAC (same as to McJuan) As for Rand Paul, his opponent was backed by the GOP establishment, how "mavericky" to endorse the other guy. And, if the Kentucky Senate seat flips to a Dem, (hopefully not) that ain't going to be looking so good for your gal...y'all.

Of course I was being sarcastic, it was a statement you couldn't back up at all. Ill conceived and spewed off your keyboard without any thought behind it. With your own words in that last post, you've already proved my point.

I'll leave it up to you to think about it.

Unless you're a Paulbot.......then you'll just have to pretend.

48
posted on 05/27/2010 4:00:18 PM PDT
by Lakeshark
(Thank a member of the US armed forces for their sacrifice)

Here is something else from the Palin posts yesterday The reporter was interviewing Sarah's father, Chuck Heath after he returned from "a round of appearances on behalf of conservative candidates in Nevada, Idaho and Alabama."

Mr. Heath said he was careful about nudging his daughter toward the things that interest him.

I dont want to push the wrong button with Sarah, he said. Besides, she doesnt make the decisions. Let me retract that. Im sure she thinks them over and she has a lot of say as to yes and no.

You might want to do better than that........like, how about commenting on the names I gave. Nikki has nothing to do with Graham or McCain, Rubio has nothing to do with McCain, hell, he backed Crist. Go through the list and just try thinking for yourself instead of acting like a dumb cultist.

50
posted on 05/27/2010 4:34:47 PM PDT
by Lakeshark
(Thank a member of the US armed forces for their sacrifice)

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